


all i know at the end of the day

by plaidcest



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 17:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5752240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plaidcest/pseuds/plaidcest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Liam asked Niall to marry him and 1 time Niall asked Liam to marry him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all i know at the end of the day

**Author's Note:**

> based loosely upon the tumblr prompt: 'highschool best friends since birth niam that accidentally fall in love in senior year and maybe go to prom together'

**_1 - An angel’s laugh_ **

Moving to a new place when you’re 4 is kind of a big thing. At least, that’s what everyone around Liam had been saying. Liam’s unsure on if it’s really that big, his parents had explained it to him as them leaving England and moving to Ireland, where they were going to be living for a long time because his dad had needed to be over there for his job. The house in Ireland was supposed to be bigger than the one they used to live in, so instead of sharing with his sisters Liam was actually going to get his own room! How exciting is that? A room all to himself, where all his toys and things will be his, and not a mix of his and his sisters. He’s excited. It’s a big responsibility, his mum says, but she thinks he’s ready for it.

He also gets to start school in a few weeks, which he’s rather excited about too. This entire thing has just left him with constant butterflies in his tummy and his little heart racing.

When they finally get off the big airplane and make the drive to their new house Liam’s unable to help himself from wriggling in his strapped seat, his legs kicking out excitedly and his face split into a grin so big he can hardly see. Their new house is incredibly big from the outside when they finally stop the car and get out, and Liam’s stuck staring with wide brown eyes up at the front of his new house which seems to reach incredibly high up into the sky from his small point of view.

He doesn’t have long to worry though, because their next door neighbours have apparently been waiting to ‘welcome them to the neighbourhood’ whatever that means, and so his mum and dad drag him and his sisters away from their new house and over to the one beside it where a woman with light yellow hair and man with hair of almost the same color are standing with two younger boys with dark brown hair.

The youngest one actually looks like he could be Liam’s age, and when Liam eagerly tries to step forward and introduce himself with a handshake like he’s seen his dad and mum doing he trips over a little rock on the sidewalk and makes the younger boy laugh a bright cheerful sound and Liam’s frozen in place. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard someone sound so happy, in ever, and he can’t help but look at the boy in front of him before tugging on his mum’s hand until she leans down to his height.

“Mum…. Mum!”

“Yes, Liam, dear?” She asks quietly, giving Maura Gallagher and her husband Chris smiles at their warm welcome. Chris seemed to still be engaged in conversation with her husband Geoff, and her daughters Ruth and Nicola have already run off to see Greg’s newest scooter in the garage. Maura is looking down at Liam with a smile, while her youngest son Niall seems to be walking his unsteady way towards Liam.

“Did you hear that?” He asks in his mumbled four year old speak and Karen’s eyebrows furrow.

“Hear what dear?”

“Hear his laugh, mum! It was…. It was like an angel!” Karen can hear Maura giggling and she feels her own face spread into a grin at her little boy.

“Oh really?”

“Yes mum!” He sounds impatient now, like she should be coming to the same conclusion as him. “And I’m going to marry him.” She blinks in shock for a moment before raising her eyebrows.

“Oh are you now, and how did you decide this?”

Liam looks away from Niall and looks up at her, his little chubby cheeks splitting into a grin.

“Because then I’ll hear an angel’s laugh for forever, duh.” He states matter of factly before turning to Niall and his face turns serious.

“I’m Liam.” Karen stands back up and shares an amused look with Maura before both women turn to watch the two boys. Liam’s holding his hand out and Niall slowly grabs it, before sitting down and pulling Liam with him and laughing again. Liam’s face softens when Niall stuttering-ly says his own name. Liam nods.

“Niall. I like your name, Niall. And I like your laugh, so ‘m gonna have to marry you.” Niall looks at Liam for a second before laughing and grinning.

“‘lright, Li… Li-am.”

Karen really wishes she’d been recording this moment, and from the looks of things Maura does too.

~~~

**_2 - Vanilla pudding is gross_ **

It’s Liam’s first day of first grade and it sucks. Mostly it sucks because summer is over so he doesn’t get to hang out with Niall all day like they usually do. It also sucks because it’s Niall’s first day of school too, it’s his first day of Kindergarten, and so anytime Liam sees him in the hallways he’s not allowed to run over and give the boy a hug, he’s got to stay in his class line and be stuck to simply giving the brunet an enthusiastic wave. He still got in trouble then, because the teacher told them to keep their hands to themselves and hold them in front of themselves and the boy who’d been walking behind Liam, Tommy, had told on him to the teacher.

Now Liam’s sitting in the small eating area for lunch, at a table all by himself and staring down at his lunch in disgust because sitting there is a vanilla pudding and vanilla pudding is the grossest thing ever. His mum must have forgotten and accidentally switched his pudding with one of his sisters. He huffs and pushes the pudding away from himself only for a small hand to grab it away from him and put a fruit cup in it’s place.

He looks up in surprise and sees Niall pulling himself up and sitting across from him at the table. He blinks.

“I don’t think you're supposed to be sitting with anyone but your own grade, Ni.” Liam says sadly and Niall shrugs.

“Don’t care. Haven’t seen ya all day.” Niall holds the pudding cup out to Liam until Liam opens it and hands it back to him and Niall gives him a bright grin, puddin leaking out from between his teeth. “‘sides, you don’t even like ‘nilla.”

“Marry me.” Niall looks up from his pudding cup and tilts his head from side to side.

“What would I get out of marryin’ you? What if I want to marry someone else?” Niall asks and Liam shrugs.

“I know all your favorite songs and games, and I can play and sing with you all the time, you would also get to eat all my vanilla pudding cups anytime I have them.”

Niall thinks about it for a moment.

“OKay. Meet me at the slide during recess.” And with that he slithers off the bench and over to his classmates, talking to a small boy with slightly curly brown hair.

~

Liam meets Niall out by the slide and they both decide that instead of exchanging rings, since neither of them has a ring, that they’ll look for the coolest rock they can find and they’ll exchange those.

Niall introduces Liam to his new friend Harry who says he can help them get married and when they exchange rocks Harry has them say some vows like how they’ll always sing together, and Liam will always play games with Niall, while Niall promises he will always eat Liam’s vanilla pudding cups so he doesn’t have to, and after that they kiss each other on the cheek and then they all play around until the bell rings and Liam has to go back to first grade and Niall has to go back to kindergarten.

~~~

**_3 - Promises for summer._ **

Liam’s fingers thread through the soft blond strands of Niall’s hair where his head is resting in Liam’s lap. Niall’s guitar is on the grass beside Liam, Niall’s hands and brain currently occupied stringing daisies together with Harry.

Liam nods along to Louis’ story about the last epic game of footy his gym class played and how he scored so many goals, grinning because he’d been there and had watched Louis have just as many fumbles because he’d been watching Harry running around with Niall on the other side of the pitch.

Louis was in sixth grade with him, while Harry and Niall were both in the grade below them. Louis had moved to Mullingar last year, really close to Halloween, and when he came to school dressed up as the red power ranger and liam was the blue one they became quick friends despite their drastically differing personalities.

Niall wiggled around on the grass for a second before sitting up and his hands came into Liam’s view holding a small crown of daisies and grass woven together by Niall. Niall placed it on his head gently and then put a crown on his own head before laying back down and looking up at Liam with a small grin. Liam grins back before looking around him and grabbing the nearest rock to him, along with a small daisy, and holding his hand out to the blond boy. Niall reaches out but Liam only gives him the daisy, holding the rock back and raising his eyebrows.

“Promise you’ll marry me?” Niall rolls his eyes.

“Haven’t I said I’d marry you a billion times already, Payno?” Liam pouts and Niall sighs, but his expression is fond.

“I promise I’ll marry you.” Liam grins, ignoring Louis fake gagging and Harry’s cooing as he gives Niall the rock and watches the Irish boy put it in his pocket before he picks up his guitar and starts singing a song about how Louis sucks at footy, and making Louis screech indignantly and throw strands of grass on him until Harry tackles him to the side and shoves a flower crown on his head.

~~~

**_4 - I’ll protect you_ **

Liam can’t stop grinning, his face split into a wide grin as he fights his way through the crowds of parents and students towards backstage where he knows Niall’s waiting.

Niall was absolutely brilliant in the talent show, he and Liam had spent months writing a song for him to sing and coming up with the harmonies for it and the chords so Niall could play it on his guitar. Tons of people had stood up and clapped for him when he’d finished, exactly like they do for people who’re really good on X Factor and things. Liam can’t wait to tell him.

Except, when Liam turns the corner to backstage he sees his best friend in tears, surrounded by the broken pieces of his guitar and Liam’s heart grows cold. He flies over to Niall and hugs the boy tightly to his chest, feeling the cold tears on his neck as Niall struggles to hold in the sobs that are wracking his body.

Liam glances frantically around, trying to see if anyone has seen anything or if there’s a teacher he can talk to but all he sees is three boys from Niall’s grade looking at the two of them and snickering near the fire exit. One of them notices him looking and sends him a smirk and Liam sees red.

He doesn’t think he’s ever been mad in his life, he’s far too passive for that, besides in their little friend group Louis is the one that gets angry enough for all four of them. But right now he wants to go over there and punch those boys. He tries to let go of Niall so he can walk over there and do just that but Niall holds onto him tighter.

“Don’t Li, just… stay here with me please.” Niall’s voice is wobbly and Liam’s resolve breaks as he looks away from the boys towards his best friend and sees the blue eyes red with tears. He hugs Niall closer to him and rocks him a bit from side to side, watching as the boys slip out the exit and away from them.

“I’m not gonna leave you, Niall. But when when we get married you’re going to have to let me protect you from asswipes like that.”

Niall gives a watery snort, surprised at Liam swearing when he’d never heard any form of bad word leave the older boy’s mouth.

“When we get married you can protect me all you want, Li.”

That’s how their families and Louis and Harry’s find them.

~

It’s only a few days later when the Payne household gets a call from the school, their sweet son Liam had gotten detention because he’d punched three boys in the grade below his, but since this was the first incident he was only getting a week’s worth of detentions.

Liam came back from detention each day with a self satisfied grin and his head held high.

~~~

**_5 - Prom?_ **

Despite the fact that Liam’s graduating and Niall will be graduating the year after him, Liam still wants Niall to be his prom date. So he gets Louis and Harry’s help in planning a massive show in the cafeteria. They get help from the band kids and the choir kids as well as the footy kids, who all wear shirts that spell out “will you go to prom with me?”.

It’s a friday when Liam has everything good to go, and during lunch he waits while the choir kids and band kids start playing a song he’d written for Niall that he called Through The Dark. He waits outside the doors as Harry and Louis start singing as well, and then he walks in with his big bunch of colorful flowers and sings the chorus along with them, ignoring the eyes of the entire student body that are watching the encounter, most of the girls with heart eyes and fond smiles.

Niall’s face is bright red when Liam finally makes it across the entire cafeteria and when he gets down on one knee he knows that the footy team have opened up their jumpers to show off the shirts that are asking the question he’s supposed to be saying aloud but as soon as his knee hits the floor his mind draws a blank.

The music has stopped completely and everyone is staring at him when his cheeks turn bright pink and he asks “Will you marry me?” instead of ‘will you go to prom with me’ and Niall’s laugh is just as bright as it was the day Liam met him when he answers yes and is grinning down at Liam.

Liam reaches into his pocket for the rock he’d found earlier that day and kept in plans of giving it to Niall, but he gives it to him now and Niall is laughing when he puts it in his pocket. He leans down to kiss Liam on the cheek and when Liam stands back up he manages to blurt “Will you also go to prom with me?” and Niall says yes before everyone near them bursts into laughter and Liam gives Niall the flowers. Watching as he smells them and then looks up at Liam with laughter bright in his blue eyes.

~~~

**_1 - An Irishman never forgets._ **

It’s Liam’s 20th birthday and Niall has been planning his surprise party since basically Liam’s 19th birthday. Liam’s asked the question the past five times. Now it’s Niall’s turn…. and it’s his turn to make it real.

Niall has invited all of Liam’s friends, and their closest friends and family to their shared flat for the party. And when Liam comes back from his day’s classes he jumps in surprise when he sees everyone in their house yelling surprise at him and Niall grins, snapping a picture on his phone of his boyfriend’s shocked face.

The night is an overall success, and Liam keeps getting this little grin on his face whenever Niall shows him another aspect of the surprise. Louis teases Liam about not having any clue what was being planned and Harry has his arm wrapped around Louis’ shoulders and squeezes him when he says that he thinks it’s very cute.

When Liam’s friends/classmates has left and it’s basically just the Payne family, Niall’s family, Louis’ and Harry’s left then Niall goes about the last surprise for the night, everyone else already knowing what it would be.

Niall plays Liam’s favorite song over the speakers and drags him into the center of the living room where they’d turned it into a slight dance floor. They share a slow dance and Niall grins as their family as he sees the mum’s tearing up and taking tons of pictures.

With the last notes of the song fading Niall kisses Liam’s cheek and pulls away just enough to be able to get down on one knee and he watches Liam’s face flood with surprise again.

“Liam James…” He begins and Liam laughs, although it sounds a little warbled.

“Niall James.” Niall grins up at his silly boyfriend and continues.

“Liam James Payne. For the past fifteen years of my life you’ve proposed at the most random of times, and I’ve promised you my hand every time, but now I think it’s time that the tables turn. So today, I’d like to ask you a question. A question in which I have no practice in asking, and you seem to have plenty of practice, but I think I’ll be able to ask it just fine.” Niall reaches out with one hand and grabs one of Liam’s, threading their fingers together.

“You’re my best friend in the entire world. And while you may have first proposed to me because of my laugh, I’m now proposing to you with your laugh in mind. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to be the main source of your laugh, and I want to hear your laugh every single day of my life. I want to make you smile that stupidly wonderful smile of yours that makes your eyes disappear almost entirely from your face everyday and I want to know that you’re the happiest you could ever be every single day of your life. That’ll be my goal, from today to every day of the rest of my life. So, Liam James, will you let me make you the happiest man on earth, and will you marry me?”

Niall reaches into his pocket with his free hand and pulls out a little chain, and hanging from the end of the chain is the rocks he and Liam had exchanged in kindergarten and grade one the second time Liam had proposed. Niall had had them tumbled and then drilled through so that they could be attached to the chain and Liam could wear them around with him. And despite the work done to them Liam recognized what they were immediately and he nodded, slight tears in his eyes. So Niall grinned and stood up, hooking the necklace around Liam’s neck and letting the small rocks settle in the middle of his collarbone.

Then he reaches into his other pocket and pulls out a small box, pulling out the ring he’d also gotten and grabbing Liam’s left hand to slide the ring on his finger.

Liam immediately pulls him into a kiss and their family cheers around them. When they pull away Liam rests their foreheads together and whispers “You know, I was actually going to propose on your birthday this year.” And Niall’s face splits into a large grin.

“Well, looks like I beat you to it this year. Maybe next year you can try again.” Which makes Liam scoff but he pulls NIall into a hug anyways and Niall can’t wait to spend the rest of his life with the man wrapped up in his arms.


End file.
